Jessica Merchant

Bakin’ Bacon

Have you tried baking your bacon yet? I’m sure by now you’ve seen a chef on Food Network do it, if you haven’t tried yourself. I remember watching the Barefoot Contessa layer it across a rack fitted into a baking sheet years ago. In one of my favorite cookbooks, Seriously Delish by Jessica Merchant, she has a whole paragraph in her introduction titled “Bake Yo’ Bacon”. Let me be the first to say, I am quick to stand by the old school method of frying it up in a pan. And now that I’ve said that let me also say, you are going to love baking it in the oven.

The first time I tasted “baked” bacon was at a brunch party. The hostess had cut the bacon pieces in half lengthwise and baked them into a chewy crispy combination of perfection. The first time I tried doing it myself, I was responsible for bring 5 pounds of cooked bacon to a breakfast bar themed menu for my son’s school party. I didn’t have time to stand in front of the stove and get dressed before having to make and serve my bacon obligation. And that was it, I gave it a try. And then it was: “why haven’t I done this sooner?”

So here is my first entertaining tip: If you need to make a surplus of bacon for a crowd, or your stove top is loaded with pots and pans and you still need to make that bacon, or your just not in the mood to stand in front of a burner because you’d rather be sitting down and drinking your coffee… Bake it!

Barefoot Contessa suggests placing it on a rack first, Jessica Merchant suggests lining your baking sheet with aluminum foil. I just jam it on there… a method for everyone. The rest of the instructions are about the same. Preheat the oven to 375° and bake for 20-25 minutes depending on the thickness of the bacon. And save your fat! Pour it into a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use. (Great for biscuits, cornbread…)

Cookbook Crazy

I have a serious problem, a legitimate weakness for collecting cookbooks. I read them like people read mystery novels or classic literature. I thoroughly enjoy them. I love the pictures and the recipes and the shared techniques and the background stories. I like imagining on what occasion I can make the prospective recipes and with what company I would enjoy them. I have even gone as far as cataloging many recipes in a computer database to be able to quickly retrieve recipes by ingredient. For example, let’s say I got a great deal on some sweet, juicy, organic blackberries. Well, then I would go through my database and pull up my file on fruit. I would then proceed to blackberries, and sift through every pie, cobbler, muffin and scone, etc recipe until I found one that sounded interesting. I would then see which of my books it was from, what page I can find it on, if it has a picture, if I made it before and, if so, what I thought of it. I realize this is totally nerdy of me.

 IMG_5215

Do they have cookbook reading clubs? We should start one. I just read Three Sisters Bake. It almost brought me to tears (not kidding, I should get out more). I can completely relate to the desire of starting a café with a sister. I’m not sure about the black pudding, but I’m not Scottish either. I’d try it though. Their rustic baking pictures are just my style, and I can’t wait to make their soups.

 IMG_5218

Currently I am reading Simply Delish by Jessica Merchant. Her food sounds fun and flavorful. I need to get some whole wheat pastry flour. And she makes toast with toppings look like a whole new cuisine. Her excitement is contagious; I should drink a kale smoothie and go to the gym.

 IMG_5229

My at present favorites are: Pioneer Woman, I am waiting with anticipation for her new book to come out this fall; Barefoot Contessa, and Better Homes and Gardens. All of them are easy for a home cook like me to follow, and I am almost always happy with the results I get from them. Pioneer Woman cooks with a practicality that I can relate to. She almost always cooks with ingredients I have on hand. Her food, I find, in general is simple and scrumptious just like she claims it is. And she takes pictures every step of the way, which is perfect for me, because I know what it’s supposed to look like as I go along! I’m a fan. Barefoot Contessa is great for me. She measures everything. When I make her roasted chicken or leg of lamb, I feel fancy and triumphant. Just follow the instructions! I refer to her recipes and entertaining tips often. She has this simple sophistication. Maybe I’m persuaded by the pictures of her Hampton’s home and garden? And lastly, whenever, I am unhappy with a particular dish and variations there of, I go back to Better Homes and Gardens. It’s like going back to the basics of tried and true. For example, meatloaf, all the sudden it’s too spicy, or oozing cheese, or wrapped in soggy bacon. Wha? Let’s remember why I do or do not like this dish in the first place. Oh yeah, that’s more like how mom made it! Classic red and white checkered, perfect for novices like me, cookbook.

I have a few stashed under my coffee table, a couple on some side tables, probably at any given time one on my nightstand and a whole bookcase full of fun, colorful, black and white, fancy, low country, healthy, not-so-healthy, local, exotic, soul, old and new cookbooks. Ahhh, life is good.